They Can't All Be Winners

AM: 6M (incl 1600m of alt 200m)
PM: 8+M :: 2E, 4T (4 min rec), 1.5T, 4 x200m

Feeling great today. The legs were loose afterthe morning run and I was looking forward to tonight's scheduled workout:

2E, 4T (4 min), 3T (3 min), 2T (2 min), 1T, 2E

Coming out of work it was a stifling 90 degrees and sweat-inducing humidity. Even then I remained confident due to my positive energy level.

Despite the volume of the workout I decided to do it on the track to help facilitate fluid intake. I knew it would be monontonous, but better that than being three miles from home and passed out under a tree. I also figured running on the track would help with my pacing difficulties of late.

2E: 12:45
4T: 20:53 (5:11, 5:12, 5:14, 5:16)
1.5T: 7:56 (5:16, 2:40)
4x200: 31.1, 29.6, 28.8, 30.2

So it didn't really go to plan. The warm-up confirmed all the good vibes I had going and I started the workout raring to go. I was looking to hit 78-79/400m (5:12-5:16/1600m) for each segment. I came through 1600m feeling pretty good with regards to turnover and pace, but I was already sticky hot. By the end of the 4T I was dripping wet, so much so that I was like a sprinkler with each arm swing.

During the 4 min recovery I felt much better. I doused myself with water and drank a good bit too. I started what was supposed to be a 3T feeling fully recovered. That faded pretty quickly as the heat started to exert itself. It got so bad that I was almost going blind from the sweat pouring into my eyes. I was a little slower at 1600m, but I was okay with that. I felt progressively felt worse over the next couple of laps and it became readily apparent that I wouldn't be able to run the required pace and in fact it was getting down right hard to keep running at all. At 2400m I unceremoniously click my stop watch and jogged over to my water bottles in the shade.

I've continued to debate with myself whether there would have been any benefit in continuing the workout even though it would have been at a slower pace. It seemed, at the time, that it just wasn't the day to do this type of workout. But there is always that nagging doubt that maybe I just wimped out. Nothing I can do about that now anyway.

I recovered pretty quickly and decided that I could in fact do some shorter stuff that would provide some benefit. No reason for the workout to be a total loss, especially if I was still feeling relatively good. The 200s went well I thought. Its been awhile since I've run under :30 and it felt sort of "good".

Anyway, at least this served as a nice tune up for the 10 mile on Saturday. And some good heat training too.

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